Today we’d like to introduce you to Blade.
Hi Blade, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Blade & Burnish was started by Blade Bonaduce, whose interest in woodworking began early on when he first picked up a pyrography pen and started making small wooden signs. What began as a hobby quickly grew into a steady practice, as he spent years creating pieces for friends and family, gradually refining his technique and developing a strong sense for design and composition.
While studying at the University of Maryland, Blade had the opportunity to train under respected wood artist Foon Sham, where he deepened his understanding of woodworking as both a technical craft and an artistic medium. Around the same time, he launched a small Etsy shop and began offering custom handmade signs, marking his first step into selling his work.
After graduating, he completed a cabinet-making apprenticeship with Peterson & Collins, a luxury home builder in Washington, D.C. That experience sharpened his attention to detail and reinforced the importance of precision and craftsmanship in high-end work.
From there, he spent several years traveling and working across the globe, intentionally seeking out hands-on roles that built both skill and perspective. He worked as a mountain guide in Patagonia, a cook in Antarctica, a farm worker in Uganda, a carpenter in Germany, in hospitality in Japan, and in commercial fishing in Alaska. Each experience added a new layer to his understanding of craft, discipline, and the value of work done with care.
Over time, his focus shifted toward larger and more refined custom pieces, leading naturally into the evolution of his current work.
Today, Blade & Burnish specializing in one-of-a-kind wood signs for homes and businesses. The studio is centered on craftsmanship, individuality, and intentional design rather than mass production. Each piece is thoughtfully built to reflect the client’s vision, shaped by years of hands-on experience and a broader life spent learning from different cultures, trades, and ways of working.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Honestly, it’s been pretty smooth overall. Not in the sense that things happened quickly or easily, but more that it’s been a slow, steady build. One step at a time, things just kept moving forward.
If anything, the biggest lesson has been realizing how little individual actions can feel like they matter in the moment. Most days it doesn’t feel like you’re making huge progress, it’s just a lot of small, unglamorous work. But over time, all of those little pieces stack up. And then at some point you look back and realize you’ve actually built something real.
As you know, we’re big fans of Blade & Burnish Wood Sign Co.. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Blade & Burnish is a custom wood sign and wood art studio focused on high-end, one-of-a-kind pieces made for homes and businesses.
What sets the work apart is the use of a wide range of exotic hardwoods sourced from around the world. I choose materials for their natural character and variation, which gives each piece its own look and feel instead of anything mass-produced or repetitive.
A big part of the work is detailed inlay design and precision craftsmanship. That combination has become the signature of the studio and is where a lot of the creative focus goes.
While custom signage is still a core offering, the direction is shifting more toward higher-end wood art pieces as well, larger, more detailed work where the material and design carry just as much weight as the message.
At the end of the day, everything is made individually and intentionally, with the goal of creating pieces that feel personal, long-lasting, and more like art than standard signage.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The biggest lesson has been learning to move fast and test ideas early, instead of trying to perfect them in advance.
A lot of time gets wasted either sitting on ideas too long or polishing something before it ever sees the real world. In reality, you don’t really know how something will land until people interact with it.
Now I try to build a simple version of an idea as quickly and with as little investment as possible, get it in front of people, and then use real feedback and data to decide what’s worth keeping, improving, or dropping entirely. That applies to everything, from product ideas and design directions to marketing and even how I run parts of the business.
It’s made the process a lot more iterative and a lot less attached to any one idea, which has been a big part of how the business has grown.
Pricing:
- Projects are fully custom, with pricing reflecting materials, scale, and design complexity. Each piece is quoted individually.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bladeandburnish.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bladeandburnish/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bladeandburnish/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BladeAndBurnish
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bladeandburnish
